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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621846">They Don't Know Her</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supercorpismylife/pseuds/Supercorpismylife'>Supercorpismylife</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supergirl (TV 2015)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A group hug really, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Depends on how you look at it, Depression, F/F, Going through all of Lena’s trauma because the writers won’t, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kara defends Lena, Kara sets Alex straight, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Mentions of Eating Disorder, Nearly attempted suicide, One Shot, Please don't read if any of these are possible triggers, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicidal feelings, many triggers, mentions of abuse, mentions of insomnia, mentions of mental abuse, mentions of physical abuse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:07:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,015</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25621846</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Supercorpismylife/pseuds/Supercorpismylife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is extremely triggering. Please look at the tags. It is set after the reveal of of Kara's secret, pretty much halfway through season 5. Remember that scene where Alex says that Kara doesn't know if she can save Lena and Kara responds, "Yes I do." This is basically what I was imagining while writing this. Kara defends Lena to Alex. She goes through Lena's past and all that she has went through. Then at the end, Kara saves Lena from making a grave mistake.</p><p>Kinda canon, but not completely.<br/>___</p><p>This story has mentions of many different triggers, but mainly at the end it is suicide. Please if you are dealing with suicidal thoughts or feelings, just know that life is worth living and it always gets better. I'm speaking from personal experience. Life will get better. </p><p>I do not own any of these characters. They belong to the writers of Supergirl.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>178</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>They Don't Know Her</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Stop,” Kara says.</p><p>“I am not going to stop-“ </p><p>“Just stop!” Kara demands. “You don’t know her Alex!”</p><p>“Of course I know her!” Alex exclaims.</p><p>“No you don’t! All of you! All of our friends have no idea who Lena is or what she has been through. The person you see at game night or the person that you might have lunch with isn’t the real Lena. It’s only a fraction of who she really is,” Kara explains.</p><p>“What does that mean?!” Alex questions, yelling in Kara’s direction.</p><p>“How about you sit down and let me explain it to you. Shall we start at the beginning?” Kara rhetorically asks. Once Alex follows Kara’s order and sits down, Kara begins.</p><p>“Lena was four years old when her mother died. The only person in her life that she loved at the time. Her hero. When her mother was drowning, Lena froze in shock. She was four and didn’t know what to do. To this day, she still blames herself. She was four! FOUR!” Kara exclaims, throwing her hands up into the air.</p><p>“After that she was taken to the Luthors. Before her mother died, her mother gave Lena a special teddy bear. Going to the Luthors, she kept that teddy bear with her by her side. It made her feel less alone. The first thing Lillian did when Lena came into the house was throw away her teddy bear because Luthors shouldn’t depend on anything but themselves. Lillian started Lena off with basic etiquette training. A Luthor had to stand up straight and walk gracefully after all. The woman made her sit on a stool alone for hours straight if she saw her without perfect posture. Why do you think she constantly sits upright, even when she’s lounging on the couch at game night?”</p><p>“Kara I didn’t-“ Alex starts.</p><p>“Oh just you wait. There is a lot more. From there she had speech training. Lena did have a “god-awful” Irish accent after all. Hours upon hours of training, saying different phrases, practicing the alphabet to make sure she didn’t sound like a “hill person.” What did Lillian do to her if she accidentally slipped back into that accent you might ask?”</p><p>Before Alex can guess, Kara continues.</p><p>“Slapped across the hands with a wood ruler until her hands bleed. She still has scars all along her palms, they are just hard to notice, blending in with the lines commonly on human hands. Did you know that Lena isn’t her real name also? I assume you don’t. Her real name is Kieran, but of course the Luthors couldn’t have a child with a name that didn’t start with L. So they changed her name to Lena, making Kieran her middle name. At the age of six, she was sent to strict boarding school. There she learned eight different languages and attended 11 extracurricular activities on top of her already rigid class schedule. Because of her worries at school and her work load, she started to develop insomnia, which she still deals with to this day. At the age of 14 she was sent back home after being expelled. She wanted to rebel and wracked up too many detentions. Wanna know what Lillian did to her because of this?”</p><p>She was met with silence.</p><p>“I don’t think you wanna know, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. She was locked in her room and starved for a week and a half until she completely passed out from lack of nutrients. Nearly dying, Lillian got her to the hospital just in time. For the next few years, she was kept on a similar rigid schedule, going to classes and then doing double the extracurriculars than a normal teenager. If she was late to any of her classes or extracurriculars, she wasn’t fed that night. Lilian constantly commented on how Lena could be thinner or prettier, so she felt like she was doing her a favor. That’s when her eating disorder started out. First she didn’t eat breakfast, then she started to skip lunch and then eventually, didn’t eat entirely. When her mother found out, and by found out I mean the school principal informed her mother that she was found vomiting in the school bathroom, she didn’t get help. Instead she was beaten and slapped until she was forced to eat. Lena didn’t completely start to eat properly until she met me,” Kara says with a grim look. </p><p>“By 18 she already had severe depression, anxiety, insomnia, an eating disorder, and was extremely self-deprecating. At that point, she was in so much pain that she didn’t understand. So much pain that she couldn’t control. That’s when the self harm started. She always did it on her hip so that no one would see them. See the cuts. God forbid what her mother would do if she did. The cuts were a pain that she could control. That she could understand. Over the course of the next six years, her life entailed work upon work upon work. Oh but remember, the abuse never stopped. When she was 24, she inherited the family business. She didn’t want it of course. Who would? But she was so selfless that even after everything her family did to her, she still tried to bring the family business up from the ground. Everyone still treated her like a Luthor. Cast her aside thinking she was just another Lex, even though she was so much more. Then she met me. A superhero hiding behind the façade of a shy reporter. She welcomed me with open arms. I helped her, broke down the walls that she built so high. I loved her when no one else would. I listened to her when no one else would. But I never told her the truth. Until her crazy brother came back and told her for me. She felt manipulated and hurt that the person who she finally let in, who she finally opened up to had been lying to her for years. FOR YEARS! So what did she do Alex? She broke! I broke her. After everything she endured, everything she went through, it finally took my secret to break her. So Alex, after everything I’ve told you, after everything you’ve learned today, do not even SUGGEST that she is a villain or that she needs to be stopped. Because all Lena is is a good person who has been beaten, destroyed, and broken down by the society and the people who she let in. And I swear to Rao, if you even suggest that you know a fraction of who Lena really is, I will finally snap and I will let you know, you do not know what it’s like when I snap,” Kara finishes, getting up from her seated position and stepping towards Alex.</p><p>Alex has her arms crossed in front of her, fear written all over her face. After a few moments of silence Alex speaks. </p><p>“Kara, I really don’t know what to say.”</p><p>“Say that we will save her. Say that you will make it your top priority because everything that has happened is our fault and we need to save her. We need to bring her back. To help her. Because no one else has and it’s what she deserves. Say that Alex.”</p><p>Finishing her sentence, Kara whips her head to the side. The majority of people don’t know, but Kara constantly listens to Lena’s heartbeat, anchoring her down back to earth in some of her weakest moments. Right now, Lena’s heart has sped up exponentially. </p><p>“I need to go,” Kara says, flying out of the room. </p><p>The sound of Lena’s racing heart is coming from L-Corp. It’s late at night, around 10 p.m.. Kara wouldn’t be shocked if Lena had thrown herself into work, but why is her heart beating so fast? Is there an attacker?</p><p>Kara flies into Lena’s office, ready for a fight. She looks around, but doesn’t spot Lena. Kara tunes back into her super hearing, trying to pinpoint her location. </p><p>‘Is she on the roof?’ Kara thinks to herself. </p><p>Kara quickly flies out the window, heading for the roof of the skyscraper. Floating in the air, she sees Lena standing on the edge, looking towards the streets below.</p><p>She’s still in her work clothes, but they are greatly disheveled. Her hair is out of its pristine bun, there’s alcohol stains on her expensive blouse, and her heels are tossed to the side behind her, resting on the roof.</p><p>“Lena! What are you doing?” Kara asks frantically. </p><p>Lena’s head jolts up out of surprise when she hears Kara’s voice. </p><p>“I’m doing what I’ve wanted to do for years, but never had the guts. I’m finally putting an end to all my worries, all my fears, all my pain,” Lena says, silent tears streaming down her face.</p><p>“Lena please don’t. You’re a good person. You have too much to live for,” Kara says in a calm voice, trying not to spook Lena. She floats closer to her, extremely slowly, hardly able to notice by the human eye.</p><p>“Stop bullshitting me! My entire life has been filled with people like you, TELLING ME I have something to live for, just so that they can use me at the end of the day for their own benefit! I have absolutely nothing and NO ONE to live for! I have no one who loves me, no one who would care if I’m gone. I’m just an evil Luthor BITCH who’s going to go off the rails someday. Hell! I already have. So don’t tell me I’m a good person. Don’t tell me I have something to live fo-for. Pl-please!” Lena says, stammering over her words as sobs wrack her body. </p><p>Kara knows why Lena can’t see who she really is deep down. She will have to try and tell her, convince her, let her know what she thinks, what she knows. </p><p>“Lena, you are the kindest, most beautiful person I have ever met. You are selfless, you are brave, you are pure of heart. You take time out of your busy schedule to go read at the Children’s Hospital. You have saved the world countless times. You have cured multiple diseases and saved millions upon millions of lives. When you walk down the street on your lunch break, you always make sure to leave a $50 bill in the homeless man's hat. Lena, you are one of the greatest people I have ever met. I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel otherwise. But Lena, you are greatly loved. Every single one of our friends is worried about you right now, doing everything they can to help you. They all love you. And above all, I love you with my entire heart and soul Lena Kieran Luthor. So please, please step off the ledge and back onto the roof,” Kara pleads. </p><p>Lena stands there, sobbing, seeming indecisive. She looks between Kara, then the street, and then finally the roof behind her. At this point, Kara is floating right in front of her, waiting for her to move. </p><p>“Please Lena,” Kara softly pleads.</p><p>With one last look, Lena steps backwards onto the roof. Instantly, Kara engulfs her in a hug. Lena’s legs go slack, sobbing into Kara’s chest. Kara slowly lowers them onto the ground of the roof. </p><p>“Kara, pl-please don’t l-let me go,” Lena chokes out.</p><p>“Never,” Kara responds, stroking Lena’s back.</p><p>She rocks Lena back and forth in her arms, trying to sooth her.</p><p>Eventually, Kara starts to softly sing a Kyrptonian lullaby. The same lullaby Kara’s mother used to sing to her when she would have night terrors back on Krypton. She hopes it has the same calming effect on Lena as it did on herself.</p><p>At some point, Lena’s breathing starts to slow and her tears subside.  </p><p>“It’s okay Lena. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay,” Kara whispers.</p><p>And even though to most, her words might seem empty, both women truly believe that eventually, one day, they’re going to be okay.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hope you enjoyed reading this story! Please drop kudos and comments of what you thought!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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